Rachael Franke

They’re Just Animals: Sacrificing the Non-Human for the “Greater Good”

Rachael Franke (University of Fribourg)

 

Through millennia of land cultivation, selective breeding, and technological advances, humankind has made great strides in separating animals into categories of human and non-human, placing themselves at the top of the food-chain as ultimate apex predators. Non-human animals are systematically bred for human entertainment, companionship, and sustenance – they are likewise methodologically euthanized, hunted, and otherwise ‘destroyed’ in the name of human safety. Recent outbreaks of viruses and pandemics, namely Covid-19 and the avian flu, have led millions of non-human animals to be culled, with the preservation of human animals used as justification.

How, then, does this justification function when applied to humans? Language has been weaponized to maintain ideologies that allow and encourage violence against othered bodies. Marginalized groups have been racialized, gendered, classed, and dehumanized to justify genocide, enslavement, and systemic oppression at the benefit of a ‘superior’ group. In Agustina Bazterrica’s Tender is the Flesh (2017), the author presents a haunting world where the lines between human and non-human have not only been blurred, but eradicated, resulting in the systemic rape, exploitation, and consumption of human flesh. Using the framework of Françoise d'Eaubonne’s theory of ecofeminism and Gayatri Spivak’s concept of Othering, I will present contemporary examples of justification of human violence against non-human animals and the dangers this justified violence poses to humans themselves.

 

Last updated on April 23rd, 2024

SNSF project 100015_204481

@VLS@veganism.social | VeganLiteraryStudies | @veganliterarystudies |